2 drivers killed, 4 injured as goods trains operated by NTPC collide head-on in Jharkhand

Ranchi: Two persons were killed and four others injured in a collision between two goods trains in Jharkhand's Sahebganj district in the early hours of Tuesday, police said. The collision between the two trains, operated by power major NTPC, happened around 3 am near Bhognadih in Barhait police station area, they said. The tracks on which the accident happened are also owned by NTPC and mainly used for transporting coal to its power plants. "The drivers of both the goods trains were killed in the head-on collision," Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Sahebganj Kishore Tirkey told media reporters.

Eastern Railway spokesperson Kausik Mitra said, "The goods trains and the tracks belong to the NTPC. It has nothing to do with the Indian Railways." The line on which the accident happened, commonly known as NTPC Lalmatia MGR, connects the PSU's Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power Station in Bihar's Bhagalpur district to the Farakka Power Plant in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. In a statement, the railways said, "The NTPC sought help from Malda Division and requested for a 140-tonne crane from Malda Division of Eastern Railway, and it has been arranged from Sahibganj." "Indian Railways is extending all possible help to NTPC authorities required for restoration," it added.